A Plymouth Royal Navy officer said it would have been “physically impossible” to have sexually touched a man whilst on the ship which they both worked.

Charles Howeson, 68, is on trial at Bristol Crown Court for 11 counts of indecently assaulting ten young men and a boy and one count of attempted buggery.

He denies the charges dating from 1985 and 1994.

Howeson served in the Royal Navy and went on to take up two dozen senior private and public sector roles

Under cross examination by Paul Dunkels QC, Howeson, of Cragie Drive, told the jury that accusations of sexual touching whilst aboard HMS Cleopatra would have been “impossible” because he didn’t come into contact with the alleged victims' genitals.

When questioned about the incident in which one of the victims alleged Howeson had grabbed his backside, the high ranking naval officer said he had stumbled on a curtain shielding part of the bridge, causing him to fall down four steps – which resulted in Howeson touching the victim “chest to chest”.

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Howeson told the jury that he recalled going up the stairs before the victim, saying: “It [the touching] would have been physically impossible as I would have been on the bridge.”

The court heard how “commonplace banter” took place between the officer and one victim on HMS Cleopatra, which came about during a man overboard exercise.

Leading Plymouth businessman and captain of industry Charles Howeson has denied a series of historic sexual abuse charges

Mr Dunkels said that Howeson had made comments about the victim’s stomach being harder than his own, adding that while making those comments Howeson was “squeezing [the victim’s] thighs, penis and testicles – a claim which Howeson refuted.

The 68-year-old said the conversation about his weight was “commonplace banter, not to be misinterpreted as having a sexual component to it.”

Mr Dunkels said: “The truth of the matter is you were using your position in each of these situations [as a naval officer and a boss of the Groundwork Trust] to engineer a situation where you could take advantage of your victims. You had power and control. Was the risk you were taking part of the excitement?"